Combat

Combat Overview

There are three main actions that you can perform in the combat screen.

Quick attack

Special attack

Dodge

There is a cooldown for each of these actions, and no other action could be performed while there is an action on cooldown. Dodging has a 0.5 seconds cooldown, while quick attack and special attack cooldown varies according to the move itself. Swapping Pokémon when fighting in an enemy gym has a 1 second cooldown.

The enemy Pokémon pauses for 2 seconds between each attack whether it is quick or special attack. If your Pokémon is using an attack that is the same type as your Pokémon, you will gain a same type attack bonus or STAB which is a 25% increase in damage.

Quick Attack

Quick attack are your fastest attacks, and is the easiest way to fight, by tapping repeatedly to spam quick attacks. Using quick attacks will also charge up the bar for special attack.

Special Attack

When the bar is filled up, you can perform a special attack by tap and hold to start activating your special attack. Once the bar fills, your special attack will activate if there are no actions on cooldown. So make sure to tap and hold for a special attack after completed the other actions or it won’t do anything.

Dodge

To dodge an attack, swipe either left or right. Before an enemy attack, there will be a yellow flash that appears on the side of your screen, so the best timing to dodge is roughly 0.5 seconds after the flash appear. The cooldown of dodge is 0.5 seconds.

There is a damage window for each move where damage is applied. Quick attacks have a damage window of 0.2 seconds. Special attacks have varied damage window depending on the move itself. The longer is the damage window, the harder it is to completely dodge the attack.

If you manage to completely cover the 0.2 seconds quick attack damage window in your 0.5 seconds of dodge window, then you will negate the damage completely. On the other hand, having 0.1 seconds of the damage window outside of your dodge window will negate half of the damage.

Learn and practice how to dodge attacks properly and you will enjoy gym battles more as you can take on Pokémon that has much higher CP than yours.

Dodge in Combat

At the start of a combat, the enemy Pokémon will begin with two quick attacks. Then the cycle begins where there will be a 2 second pause between each attack. These attacks will be either quick or special attack depending whether the enemy Pokémon has filled up the bar for special attack or not.

Depending on the move of your Pokémon, usually you will be able to land between 1 to 3 attacks between each of the enemy attacks. Practice and get the hang of dodging effectively.

Damage Modifiers

As mentioned above, using an attack that is the same type as your Pokémon gives you bonus damage known as same type attack bonus or STAB. The modifier is 1.25x bonus damage.

Each type has its own strengths and weaknesses. You can identify whether your attack is effective or not during battle as it will show: